Americans United - Jerry Falwellhttps://www.au.org/tags/jerry-falwell
enBumpy Lane: Religious Right Operative Seeks To Build (Another) Church-Based Political Machinehttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/bumpy-lane-religious-right-operative-seeks-to-build-another-church-based
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">David Lane is the latest in a long line of Religious Right operatives seeking to forge right-wing evangelicals into a well-oiled political machine.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Here’s what the country doesn’t need right now: another zealot aiming to mobilize right-wing pastors to become a force in electoral politics.</p><p>Yet that’s what the country is getting.</p><p>Meet David Lane. According to a recent <em>New York Times</em> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/16/us/evangelicals-aim-to-mobilize-an-army-for-republicans-in-2016.html?hp&amp;action=click&amp;pgtype=Homepage&amp;module=first-column-region&amp;region=top-news&amp;WT.nav=top-news&amp;_r=0">story</a>, Lane is the latest in a long line of Religious Right operatives seeking to forge right-wing evangelicals into a well-oiled political machine.</p><p>We’ve been down this road before. Think Jerry Falwell. Think Ralph Reed. Think Tony Perkins. Think David Barton.</p><p>What’s different this time? Here’s how <em>The Times</em> put it: “Unlike political operatives such as Ralph Reed, the former executive director of the Christian Coalition who helped elect George W. Bush before becoming ensnared in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, Mr. Lane does not have an extensive organization. What Mr. Lane, a former public relations man, does have going for him is a decentralized landscape in which a determined believer with an extensive network of ground-level evangelical leaders and a limitless capacity for talking on the phone can exert influence on Republican presidential candidates eager to reach evangelical voters.”</p><p>Lane may not have an extensive organization behind him, but he’s not exactly the Lone Ranger. As <em>The Times</em> story notes, he is bankrolled by unnamed high donors and receives logistical support from the American Family Association (AFA).</p><p>Lane claims to have a list of 100,000 supportive pastors, and 1,000 of them are supposedly interested in running for office.</p><p>Those figures may be inflated. No one knows for certain the exact number of houses of worship in America, but <a href="http://www.rcms2010.org/press_release/ACP%2020120501.pdf">one good estimate</a> puts the total shy of 350,000. I really doubt that Lane has a mailing list that accounts for nearly 30 percent of all pastors in America. More likely, his list has a lot of retired clergy on it or people who, while still ordained, no longer lead a congregation. (Or he could have pulled the figure out of thin air. Believe it or not, Religious Right activists sometimes aren’t entirely truthful.)</p><p>Still, this is a movement worth watching. Lane is widely credited in 2010 with mobilizing Iowa fundamentalist voters who, angry over a ruling by the state supreme court upholding same-sex marriage, voted three justices off the court.</p><p>In short, Lane’s movement represents the same old pack of fundamentalist busybodies bound and determined to run the lives of others and base all laws on their narrow interpretation of the Bible.</p><p>Just to be clear, everyone in this country has a right to be involved in politics. That includes pastors – as individuals. But that’s not what Lane wants. He and his shadowy backers want pastors to mobilize their congregations and form a disciplined voting bloc. And that is where things get dicey because, under federal law, pastors aren’t permitted to use the resources of a house of worship to help elect or defeat candidates.</p><p>Yet we know this happens all of the time. Other Religious Right groups over the years have attempted to build church-based political machines. TV preacher Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition did it in the 1990s, and in more recent times we’ve seen groups like the Family Research Council and the AFA do it as well.</p><p>Some of what goes on can only be described as brazen. The Alliance Defending Freedom, a Religious Right legal group, openly prods pastors to violate the law by endorsing or opposing candidates from the pulpit during so-called “Pulpit Freedom Sunday.”</p><p>They don’t try to hide it, and they’re not even subtle about it. Unfortunately, the Internal Revenue Service just sits on its hands.</p><p>Assuming he can create it, what does Lane intend to do with this church-based politicking machine? Well, it’s pretty obvious his efforts are designed to secure the GOP nomination for a Religious Right favorite. He’s being courted by the likes of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and others.</p><p>Given the strong Religious Right/Tea Party base in the GOP, Lane may very well succeed in his effort to have far-right pastors pick the party’s presidential nominee in 2016. As I told journalist Bill Berkowitz recently, it’s <a href="http://truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/team-jeb-bush-s-liaison-to-the-religious-right-is-islamophobic-opposed-to-marriage-equality-and-vigorously-anti-abortion">pretty much impossible</a> for a Republican presidential hopeful to get through the primaries without catering to this base, which is obsessed with a handful of divisive social issues.</p><p>The challenge for men like Lane, of course, is getting the Religious Right’s hand-picked candidate through the general election. The fixations of the Religious Right – same-sex marriage, legal abortion, the role of religion in public schools, creationism, “American exceptionalism,” the “war on Christmas,” etc. – are not shared by the rest of the country.</p><p>When a diverse and broad cross-section of the electorate shows up on Election Day, the Religious Right loses (see the year 2012). When they do not, the Religious Right and its Tea Party pals win (see the year 2014).</p><p>It is that simple – and that complex.</p><p> </p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/religious-groups%E2%80%99-involvement-in-candidate-elections">Religious Groups’ Involvement in Candidate Elections</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/david-lane">David Lane</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ralph-reed">ralph reed</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/christian-coalition">Christian Coalition</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/american-family-association">American Family Association</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/family-reasearch-council">Family Reasearch Council</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/david-barton">David Barton</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/jerry-falwell">Jerry Falwell</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/alliance-defending-freedom">Alliance Defending Freedom</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/tony-perkins">Tony Perkins</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/pat-robertson">Pat Robertson</a></span></div></div>Thu, 19 Mar 2015 14:14:51 +0000Rob Boston10969 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/bumpy-lane-religious-right-operative-seeks-to-build-another-church-based#commentsMeasure Of Justice: Remembering The Battle Over Robert Bork https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/measure-of-justice-remembering-the-battle-over-robert-bork
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Robert Bork held extremely conservative – some might say reactionary – views, and the possibility of his elevation to the Supreme Court alarmed many groups.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>I know it’s not considered polite to speak ill of the dead, but I’m going to bend that rule today to comment on Robert H. Bork, the former federal appeals court judge and failed Supreme Court candidate who <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-robert-bork-20121220,0,5080843.story">died yesterday</a>.</p><p>Those of you who have been with Americans United for a long time might recall that President Ronald W. Reagan nominated Bork to replace Justice Lewis Powell in the summer of 1987. Bork held extremely conservative – some might say reactionary – views, and the possibility of his elevation to the highest court in the land alarmed many groups.</p><p>So Bork opponents formed a coalition. Americans United was in the thick of the fight, and we noted that Bork’s views on separation of church and state were far out of the mainstream. Our allies at People For the American Way examined Bork’s speeches and writings and concluded in a report that he would “take a sledgehammer to the wall of separation between church and state.”</p><p>One anecdote is telling: During a 1985 appearance at the Brookings Institution, Bork was asked about his belief that government-sponsored school prayer is not a violation of the First Amendment. A Baptist minister told Bork about a Jewish friend who was uncomfortable because he was pressured to take part in Christian worship in public schools. Did Bork not see the problem here?</p><p>Apparently not. Bork’s reply was a flip, “So what? I’m sure he got over it.”</p><p>Religious Right groups were very enthusiastic over the possibility of Bork joining the high court. The Rev. Jerry Falwell said the Bork nomination “may be our last chance to influence this most important body.”</p><p>The Catholic League, the Heritage Foundation, Concerned Women for America, the Eagle Forum and other groups formed a pro-Bork caucus. The stage was set for a battle royal.</p><p>The atmosphere in the Senate grew heated at times. A defining moment came when U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) stood on the Senate floor and delivered a speech titled <a href="http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Robert_Bork%27s_America">“Robert Bork’s America.”</a> In less than 500 words, Kennedy demolished the mask of moderation Reagan had tried to paste on Bork.</p><p>By the time Bork’s nomination came up for a vote On Oct. 23, 1987, the only question left was the margin of his defeat. It was 58-42.</p><p>After the vote, Reagan nominated Douglas H. Ginsburg, also a federal appeals court judge. But stories soon surfaced that Ginsburg had smoked marijuana in the 1960s and ‘70s, and this was enough to force his withdrawal.</p><p>The third time proved to be the charm for Reagan. He nominated Anthony M. Kennedy, a judge on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Kennedy won confirmation easily and remains on the Supreme Court today.</p><p>Kennedy’s record on church-state separation has been decidedly mixed. Early in his tenure, he called for “substantial revision” of the high court’s church-state rulings. But he surprised everyone in 1992 by authoring a powerful opinion in <a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/90-1014.ZS.html"><em>Lee v. Weisman</em></a>, which struck down coercive, school-sponsored prayers during graduation ceremonies.</p><p>Kennedy has also moderated his views on social issues over the years. In 2003, he wrote the majority opinion in <a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/02-102.ZS.html"><em>Lawrence v. Texas</em></a>, which invalidated a Texas law banning consensual same-sex acts between adults.</p><p>What are the chances Bork would have ruled this way? Less than slim. In his best-selling 1996 book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Slouching-Towards-Gomorrah-Liberalism-American/dp/0060573112/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1356012634&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=slouching+toward+gomorrah"><em>Slouching Toward Gomorrah</em>: <em>Modern Liberalism and American Decline</em></a>, Bork wrote, “If all traces of taint are removed, if homosexuality is made to seem completely normal, a matter of indifference to anyone else or to society, young men and women uncertain of their sexuality will be that much more likely to be drawn into a homosexual life.”</p><p>Kennedy is far from perfect – he supported private school vouchers in 2002’s <a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/00-1751.ZS.html"><em>Zelman v. Simmons-Harris</em></a> – but he’s right at least some of the time. Bork would have been wrong every time. After he was rejected for a seat on the court, Bork grew increasingly bitter and adopted even more extreme views. I heard him speak at a few Religious Right gatherings. To be frank, his views were so far out on the fringe that he scared me.</p><p>Bork failed to understand the basic structure of American government. In <em>Slouching Toward Gomorrah</em>, Bork advocated amending the Constitution to allow a super-majority of Congress to nullify Supreme Court rulings. Imagine how that would have worked out in, say, 1954 in the wake of <em>Brown v. Board of Education</em>.</p><p>I’m sure there are people who loved Bork and are mourning his loss. My condolences to them. But his death should not prevent us from stating what has become obvious 25 years after the fact: The man was an extremist who did not belong on the Supreme Court.</p><p>The fact that Bork was kept off the court is a reminder of what advocates of church-state separation can do if they work together. Let’s keep it up.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/judicial-nominations">Judicial Nominations</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/robert-bork">Robert Bork</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/us-supreme-court-0">U.S. Supreme Court</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/jerry-falwell">Jerry Falwell</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/concerned-women-america">Concerned Women for America</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/eagle-forum">Eagle Forum</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/heritage-foundation">Heritage Foundation</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/lewis-powell">Lewis Powell</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/people-for-the-american-way">People For the American Way</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/douglas-ginsburg">Douglas Ginsburg</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/anthony-kennedy">Anthony Kennedy</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ted-kennedy-0">Ted Kennedy</a></span></div></div>Thu, 20 Dec 2012 15:47:44 +0000Rob Boston7852 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/measure-of-justice-remembering-the-battle-over-robert-bork#commentsFundamentalist Football: Liberty University ‘Champions’ Have A Game Plan To Run Your Lifehttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/fundamentalist-football-liberty-university-champions-have-a-game-plan-to
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Liberty University has become a major base of operations for opponents of the church-state wall. </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>I’m not really a fan of professional or college sports and don’t normally look at the Sports page of the newspaper. But a recent <em>New York Times</em> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/sports/ncaafootball/in-virginias-hills-a-football-crusade.html?_r=0">piece </a>about Liberty University’s football program did catch my eye.</p><p>The Lynchburg, Va.-based university founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell has an ambitious agenda. As <em>The Times</em> put it, “[T]he plan is for college football – big-time, always-on-television college football – to do for evangelical Christians in the 21st century what Notre Dame football did for Roman Catholics in the 20th.”</p><p>These days, Liberty U. is run by Jerry Falwell Jr. Like his father, the younger Falwell tends to see everything through a religio-political lens – and, of course, he is very hostile to church-state separation and his politics are very far to the right.</p><p>“We think there would be a vast, committed fan base of conservative, evangelical Christians around the country and maybe even folks who are conservative politically who would rally behind Liberty football,” Falwell said, “They would identify with our philosophy.”</p><p>Needless to say, Liberty faces significant hurdles in its quest to join the upper ranks of college football. Think about the teams that dominate in Division I-A: Ohio State, the University of Florida, Louisiana State University, University of Southern California, the University of Alabama, etc. Liberty’s just not in the same league.</p><p>And, as the article points out, Liberty, with its strict fundamentalist-oriented code governing student life and behavior, might have difficulty recruiting top high school players.</p><p>But Liberty has defied expectations before. Many of us are surprised that the school even still exists. Back in the 1990s, it was struggling under so much debt that some observers thought it was just a matter of time before the whole shebang collapsed. Ironically, only a generous infusion of cash from the Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his controversial Unification Church <a href="http://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/moon3.html">saved the school</a>.</p><p>You may not know it, but you’re also helping prop up Liberty. The university, journalist Bill Berkowitz <a href="http://www.talk2action.org/story/2011/6/9/143057/2379">has reported</a>, receives “massive government aid.”</p><p>Liberty now has 12,000 students living on campus and is expanding to accommodate 8,000 more. An additional 82,000 students study there online.</p><p>As <em>The Times</em> reported, “Liberty’s net assets have ballooned by more than $900 million in the last five years. The once sleepy Liberty campus, which used to be no more than a few nondescript structures and a parking lot, has been transformed with a multitude of technologically advanced brick buildings in the Jeffersonian architectural style. Huddled against the foothills outside Lynchburg’s historic downtown, Liberty has a 500,000-square-foot learning center with a new 170,000-square-foot library under construction. An observatory will open in the spring next to the equestrian center…. There is an expanding law school, and a medical school is scheduled to open in 2014.”</p><p>That law school, I should point out, is led by Mat Staver, a longtime Religious Right attorney who has dedicated his life to undoing the handiwork of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and other advocates of church-state separation. Staver is no fan of Americans United and <a href="http://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/staver%E2%80%99s-raving-liberty-u-law-dean-goes-on-a-tear-about-au">once opined</a> that we are “out to literally destroy America.”</p><p>Religious groups, of course, have the right to open, own and operate schools. When the primary goal of these institutions is to spread religious doctrine, I think the people who believe in that faith should pay 100 percent of the bill. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court long ago opened the door for religiously affiliated colleges to get taxpayer aid, and now most of them are on the dole.</p><p>Liberty’s growth should alarm advocates of church-state separation. The university has become a major base of operations for opponents of the church-state wall. Liberty says its main goal is to promote “champions for Christ.” The elder Falwell may be gone, but his radical agenda lives on through these “champions,” who were given marching orders to infiltrate public education, the legal profession, the political world and other power centers of our national life.</p><p>Falwell’s “champions” have a vision of a “Christian America” that most Americans don’t share. It’s based on their exceedingly narrow interpretation of Christianity and would exclude millions of Americans who are atheists, gay, liberal Christians, non-Christians, political progressives and so on. The Liberty crowd says it wants government to be faith friendly. What they don’t tell you is that under their scheme, only a certain faith (theirs) would be favored. </p><p>The school has friends in high places. When political figures like Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and others want to show the Religious Right some love, increasingly they head straight to Lynchburg.</p><p>It behooves all of us to keep an eye on the growing fundamentalist empire in Lynchburg. Its “champions” want to run our lives, and they’ll use any means at their disposal to do that – even a football team.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/liberty-university">Liberty University</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/jerry-falwell">Jerry Falwell</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/jerry-falwell-jr-0">Jerry Falwell Jr.</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/mat-staver">Mat Staver</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/sun-myung-moon">Sun Myung Moon</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/mitt-romney">Mitt Romney</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/newt-gingrich">Newt Gingrich</a></span></div></div>Tue, 13 Nov 2012 17:24:50 +0000Rob Boston7718 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/fundamentalist-football-liberty-university-champions-have-a-game-plan-to#commentsMoon Shadow: Unification Church Founder Mesmerized Religious Right, Members Of Congresshttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/moon-shadow-unification-church-founder-mesmerized-religious-right-members
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">The late Rev. Sun Myung Moon was a sugar daddy to the Religious Right.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, self-proclaimed messiah, founder of the Unification Church and funder of various Religious Right political causes, <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-09-02/unification-church-rev-moon-dies/57537454/1">died on Monday.</a></p><p>Moon, who was 92, was familiar to many Americans because of the rather esoteric beliefs of his church – the mass weddings, the flower sellers on the streets and the allegations that the church was really a “cult.”</p><p>There was another side to the story. In the early 1980s, Moon began pouring millions into Religious Right organizations. Over the years, he used a network of front groups to channel cash to people like Tim LaHaye, Jerry Falwell, Ralph Reed, Gary Bauer and others.</p><p>Moon’s ties to Falwell, although often overlooked, were especially important. In 1998, <em>The Washington Post</em> reported that a Moon front group called the Christian Heritage Foundation bought $3.5 million of Liberty University’s debt. A separate Moon group lent the school $400,000. Moon’s millions propped up the flagging Falwell empire during a time when it might otherwise have collapsed.</p><p>Moon money was also used to buy favor with a number of political leaders. Over the years, Jack Kemp, Jeanne Kirkpatrick, William Bennett, U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and even former presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush have accepted Moon money to speak at conferences.</p><p>One of the most curious episodes in Moon history occurred in March of 2004, when Moon <a href="http://www.au.org/church-state/may-2004-church-state/people-events/sun-myung-moon-crowned-king-of-america-at-us-senate">was crowned</a> “King of America” at a bizarre ceremony that took place in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C.</p><p>A number of D.C. luminaries attended the event, among them several leaders who were then members of the Senate and House, including U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton (D-Minn.) and Reps. Roscoe G. Bartlett (R-Md.), Christopher B. Cannon (R-Utah), Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.), Harold E. Ford (D-Tenn.) and Sanford D. Bishop Jr. (D-Ga.).</p><p>During the “coronation,” gaudy and glittering crowns were literally placed on the heads of Moon and his wife Hak Ja Han as they stood attired in flowing robes. Moon gave a rambling address during which he claimed that several dead figures from history, among them Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and Adolf Hitler, have been “reborn as new persons” after studying Moon’s teachings in the “spirit world” and referred to himself as the messiah.</p><p>A Moon aide, Chung Hwan Kwak, later remarked that the ceremony amounted to America asking Moon, “Please be my king.” Kwak added, “The ‘inside’ view of the event was that America surrendered to True Parents in the king’s position.”</p><p>It was <a href="http://www.au.org/church-state/september-2004-church-state/people-events/virginia-senator-says-he-got-congressional">later reported</a> that U.S. Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) arranged for Moon’s group to use the room, although Warner did not attend. Several politicians and religious leaders who attended the event later claimed they were duped and didn’t know it was connected to Moon.</p><p>None of this surprised long-time observers of Moon’s movement. Unification theology includes some elements of Christianity, but the main focus has always been on Moon. He believed that all religious groups should merge under his banner. According to Moon, Jesus Christ failed in his earthly mission and there was a need for a new messiah – Moon.</p><p>By the time of the crowning, Unification theology was increasingly promoting the idea that only Moon could save humankind. Throughout 2002 and 2003, advertisements had been appearing in the Moon-owned <em>Washington Times</em> reporting on a series of conversations Moon followers had with dead presidents in the “spirit world.” To no one’s surprise, the presidents all endorsed Moon and his theology.</p><p>During <a href="http://www.au.org/church-state/october-2003-church-state/people-events/us-presidents-endorse-sun-myung-moon-from">one such conference</a>, Thomas Jefferson reportedly cried out, “People of America, rise again! Return to the nation's founding spirit. Follow the teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the Messiah to all people, who has appeared in Korea. There is no inconsistency between our founding spirit and his teachings. Well-known presidents and kings from history are excited by the greatness of his philosophy of peace.”</p><p>(Rutherford B. Hayes also got in on the action. The 19th president <a href="http://www.au.org/church-state/february-2003-church-state/people-events/february-2003-people-events">remarked</a>, “People of earth! People of America! I cannot record here everything that I have experienced. I can only say that the Unification Principle is a great truth and that it is unmistakable that the Rev. Sun Myung Moon holds all the keys to human salvation and peace.”)</p><p>As strange as beliefs like this seem, they’ve never stopped Moon and his money from making great inroads into the right wing. Moon’s <em>Washington Times</em>, for example, was founded in 1982 and has never made a dime in profit. The church continues to subsidize it, and the paper has become a leading voice for inside-the-Beltway conservatives.</p><p>Moon’s people know how to play the political game. After the 2000 election, Moon groups sponsored a series of “unity rallies” that were supposedly designed to bring the nation together after a divisive electoral contest that had to be resolved by Supreme Court intervention.</p><p>In reality, the events were designed to get people used to the idea that George W. Bush was the legitimate winner. During Bush’s tenure, a Moon group in California <a href="http://www.au.org/church-state/november-2004-church-state/people-events/moon%E2%80%99s-flock-benefits-from-%E2%80%98faith-based%E2%80%99">raked in taxpayer money</a> under the “faith-based” initiative.</p><p>So what happens now? Moon leaves behind a large family as well as a dizzying array of political groups, religious organizations and secular businesses. (Among Moon’s holdings are a seafood company that provides many restaurants with fish for sushi, a firearms manufacturing firm and a dance troupe.) <em>The Times</em> may not be profitable, but many of these other outlets are. The Moon fortune may run into the billions.</p><p>With money like that at stake, I expect there will be a power struggle. And while it’s too early to determine how it will all shake out, I expect Moon’s millions will continue to prop up Religious Right groups for many years to come.</p><p>And who knows – we may not have heard the last of Moon himself. He may still have some parting instructions for us, which I’m sure he’ll eagerly impart from the spirit world.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/sun-myung-moon">Sun Myung Moon</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/unification-church">Unification Church</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/washington-times">Washington Times</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ralph-reed">ralph reed</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/gary-bauer">Gary Bauer</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/chung-hwan-kwak">Chung Hwan Kwak</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/gerald-ford">Gerald Ford</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/george-w-bush">George W. Bush</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/george-hw-bush">George H.W. Bush</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/john-warner">John Warner</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/mark-dayton">Mark Dayton</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/thomas-jefferson">thomas jefferson</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/rutherford-b-hayes">Rutherford B. Hayes</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/jerry-falwell">Jerry Falwell</a></span></div></div>Tue, 04 Sep 2012 15:47:43 +0000Rob Boston7512 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/moon-shadow-unification-church-founder-mesmerized-religious-right-members#commentsChristmas In June: Santa (Monica) Delivers A Nice Gifthttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/christmas-in-june-santa-monica-delivers-a-nice-gift
<a href="/about/people/simon-brown">Simon Brown</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">If anyone feels like they want to see a Nativity scene at Christmas, many local churches will surely oblige. </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>It might not seem much like Christmas time – with temperatures in Washington, D.C., approaching 100 degrees – but we got an early present courtesy of the Santa Monica City Council.</p><p>The California community <a href="http://www.smmirror.com/articles/News/Nativity-Scenes-At-Palisades-Park-Banned/34842">decided recently</a> to prohibit all unattended displays in a public park in reaction to the stir some of those displays caused in December 2011.</p><p>For decades, Nativity scenes celebrating the birth of Jesus were put up at Santa Monica’s Palisades Park around Christmas. When local residents objected to this apparent preference for one faith, the city set up a lottery system that gave all groups a chance at display spaces.</p><p>But when atheist groups won a majority of the spaces last year, conservative Christian groups agitated for a new policy that would limit displays and give religious organizations more likelihood of dominating the park.</p><p>The council sought a solution to the unrest over the exhibits, and predictably got some free (and bad) advice from the Religious Right.</p><p>In May, Liberty Counsel, a legal group affiliated with Jerry Falwell Jr.’s Liberty University, urged the city to drop the lottery and choose exhibits on a case-by-case basis, maybe limiting the displays to those “related to a December holiday.”</p><p>Hmmm. Wonder which holiday that might be?</p><p>Americans United and others <a href="http://www.au.org/files/2012-05-16%20Santa%20Monica%20CA%20Response%20to%20Letter%20from%20Liberty%20Counsel.pdf">urged the council</a> to reject appeals from aggressive religious groups like Liberty Counsel. We advised the city to close the forum altogether or to keep its current policy, which allows speech on a free and equal basis.</p><p>When the council chose option one, predictably not everyone was happy.</p><p>“I’m saddened to be at this point,” said Councilman Terry O’Day, according to the Santa Monica <em>Daily Press</em>. "For one, I enjoy the Nativity scenes. [B]ut in staying with the current [lottery system], I feel like we are setting up a ring for a competition – one that is getting nasty, and that is certainly not in the Christmas spirit…. There are other ways to celebrate faith or non-faith.”</p><p>Ultimately, the council did the right thing by closing the forum, because it was causing more trouble than it was worth. </p><p>As the <em>Los Angeles Times</em> rightly pointed out in an <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-santa-monica-nativity-20120614,0,5826972.story">editorial</a>: “People still have the right to show up at the park and celebrate -- and show off -- their varying beliefs during the holidays and any other time. But the park also belongs to those who would prefer their public open spaces remain exactly that.”</p><p>If anyone feels like they want to see a Nativity scene at Christmas, many local churches will surely oblige. For the city to provide space for yet more exhibits just seems like overkill. It also seemed to lead to an awful lot of fighting.</p><p>Isn’t the holiday season supposed to be about peace?</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/government-sponsored-religious-displays">Government-Sponsored Religious Displays</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/liberty-counsel">Liberty Counsel</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/jerry-falwell">Jerry Falwell</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/palisades-park">Palisades Park</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Location:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/our-work/grassroots/california">California</a></span></div></div>Wed, 20 Jun 2012 19:09:12 +0000Simon Brown7244 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/christmas-in-june-santa-monica-delivers-a-nice-gift#commentsSanta Monica Should Reject Religious Right Legal Group’s Bad Advice On Holiday Displays, Says Americans Unitedhttps://www.au.org/media/press-releases/santa-monica-should-reject-religious-right-legal-group-s-bad-advice-on-holiday
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>If the Santa Monica City Council adopts a holiday display policy recommended by a Religious Right legal group, lawsuits are certain to follow, according to Americans United for Separation of Church and State said today. </p><p><a href="/files/2012-05-16%20Santa%20Monica%20CA%20Response%20to%20Letter%20from%20Liberty%20Counsel.pdf">In a letter today</a>, Americans United charged that Liberty Counsel, a legal group affiliated with the late TV preacher Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University, is giving the city bad advice. On May 8, Liberty Counsel urged the city to drop its policy of using a lottery to choose displays for a public space in favor of allowing only displays that are “related to a December holiday” or choosing exhibits on a case-by-case basis.</p><p>These approaches, said Americans United, are intended to “pave the way for religious displays while screening out non-religious ones.” Such preferential treatment, the Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group said, “grossly misrepresents” the requirements of constitutional law.</p><p>“The city council can’t favor religious displays over non-religious displays,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director. “If the city does what Liberty Counsel wants, a lawsuit is almost a certainty.”</p><p>For a number of years, Nativity scenes celebrating the birth of Jesus were displayed at Santa Monica’s Palisades Park around Christmas. When local residents objected to this apparent preference for one faith, the city set up a lottery system that gives all groups a chance at display spaces.</p><p>Atheist groups won many of the spaces last year, and now Christian groups are agitating for a new city policy that limits displays and gives religious organizations more likelihood of dominating the park.</p><p>Americans United’s letter, written by AU Legal Director Ayesha N. Khan and AU Staff Attorney Ian Smith, noted that Liberty Counsel failed to give the city council a full description of its activities.</p><p>In its advice to the city, Liberty Counsel described itself in secular terms as “a non-profit litigation, education and policy organization” specializing in “constitutional litigation, particularly free speech, religious freedom and church state matters.” In reality, AU said, Liberty is a fundamentalist Christian advocacy organization that mentions Christian beliefs in its doctrinal statement. </p><p>Americans United advised the city council to keep its current policy, which creates a public forum allowing for robust private speech on a free and equal basis, as required by the Constitution. In the alternative, the city could close the forum altogether.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/government-sponsored-religious-displays">Government-Sponsored Religious Displays</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/liberty-counsel">Liberty Counsel</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/jerry-falwell">Jerry Falwell</a></span></div></div><h3 >City Policy Promoting Religion Would Lead To Costly Lawsuits, Church-State Watchdog&nbsp;Says</h3><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Location:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/our-work/grassroots/california">California</a></span></div></div>Wed, 16 May 2012 21:26:01 +0000Simon Brown7147 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/media/press-releases/santa-monica-should-reject-religious-right-legal-group-s-bad-advice-on-holiday#comments